Season Chasing with Jody Williams and Rita Sodi

Food with Mark Bittman

Sweetness and Light

Nutrition, Arts, Food, Culture, Cooking, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.9 • 947 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode from late 2022, the beloved restaurateurs behind New York's Via Carota and I Sodi talk to Kate and to guest host Melissa McCart about being a purist vs a regionalist, the supreme reign of artichokes, and how to buy good olive oil.

Get Via Carota's recipes for Roasted Carrots, Spiced Yogurt, and Pistachios: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/carote-roasted-carrots-spiced-yogurt-and-pistachios/

...and Salmoriglio (Lemon and Garlic Dressing): https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/salmoriglio-lemon-and-garlic-dressing/

Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.

Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to The Bittman Project at www.bittmanproject.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to food. I'm Kate Fitman, and we are so glad that you're here with us.
0:07.1	If you want more, remember to check us out online at bitmanproject.com.
0:11.9	We've got more than 1,500 recipes with new ones added daily, plus some really wonderful
0:17.0	food writing from some really wonderful food writers and recommendations for products
0:22.5	and more bitmanproject.com and as always email us with any questions or feedback at food
0:29.3	at markbitman.com. If you're someone who cares about food, which, considering you're listening to this, you likely are, finding a good restaurant in a big city, or really anywhere,
0:55.9	becomes a bit of a dance. You ask around, you Google, you look at your trusted sites that offer
1:01.2	recommendations, and God forbid you want something specific. That's an even more complex dance.
1:07.4	Then, of course, you find a place, and it's anyone's guess whether or not you'll be able to eat after six and before 11 or whatever.
1:16.2	If I'm being honest, my personal troop reference is 5.30 or 6.
1:20.8	Anyone who says that via Corota, on Grove Street in New York City's West Village, hasn't become a standby for any New Yorker who cares
1:28.6	about food either isn't paying attention or is a contrarian. With good reason, a rare restaurant,
1:35.6	but becoming less rare in this regard, thankfully, that pays attention to the seasons in its
1:40.4	food. Via Corota is Italian food at its freshest. It has an uncomplicated feel and is not
1:46.9	precious. Owners Jody Williams and Rita Sodi met each other at Sodi's much-admired restaurant,
1:53.6	E-Sodi, and are now partners both in life and in work. Via Corota, their love gild, is one of my
2:00.3	favorite restaurants, and my friend Melissa McCart
2:02.6	and I talked with Jody and Rita almost three years ago when their cookbook, Via Corota came out.
2:08.0	It's a conversation that will no doubt leave you eager to cook, so we thought it'd be nice to
2:12.3	rerun it the day before Thanksgiving. We hope you're getting some time off with your loved ones,
2:17.1	and that depending on your preference, you're either cooking or you're getting some time off with your loved ones, and that depending
2:17.8	on your preference, you're either cooking or you're not cooking and letting others do the work
	...

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